Whistler Feb 20-24 2012

[StealthBoarder]

Day 1



I figured I had it easy for the trip up. It didn’t end up that way though. Flights were all on time, nothing delayed just time consuming. I land in Vancouver, get my bags and look for my shuttle. I had a little time to kill as the bus wasn’t leaving for another 40 minutes. So I get a snack while I’m waiting for the bus to arrive. They finally get everyone loaded on the bus and we head out. The driver mentions it will take 2hr and 45 mins to get there and that we had to pick up a few people in downtown along the way. It shouldn’t take that long but since we had to pick up those people it did. We passed through a not so nice part of Vancouver as some passengers chuckled as they saw a guy dressed up as a girl walking down the street with not much clothing covering him/her/whatever. There was no way I was taking a picture of that. Not something I want to remember if you know what I mean. We make it through the downtown area, pick up some people and head out of Vancouver. It looks like a nice city to explore. It wasn’t a great day at all. It was quite dreary to be honest so no pictures at all.

We continue our journey to Whistler along the Sea to Sky Highway. This has some completely breathtaking views IF the weather had been nice. But it wasn’t. It was dreary and rainy. The drive up was very windy and I’m surprised I didn’t get sick but I thought I was going to a couple of times.

Sitting across from me was a British family on holiday. The 3 kids were behaved for the most part but at the end they were getting very antsy and bickering amongst themselves. One of the girls started fussing and crying. I can’t really blame them. I was tired too and wanted to be there just as bad as they did. That family had been traveling a lot longer than I had so I had no room to whine.

We had a shift in transportation and a shuttle took some of us from the bus to our respective places of lodging. I finally arrive at the condo where I’d be staying for the trip. I noticed when I got off the shuttle that it was snowing so I guess that changed as we were coming up from Vancouver. It was nice to see snow finally this winter. I got all settled in my room but was too tired to wander around the village from all the traveling I had done. So I kept it simple. I went to the grocery store around the corner from here and I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was an “IGA”. Me and IGA go way back to my childhood years in New York. Moving on, I get some basic stuff for the condo and then get some snack wraps from Mickey D’s and head back to the condo. Unfortunately, I had to do some work stuff despite being ridiculously tired. It didn’t take too long to do and so I just got that out of the way. I went to sleep early as the night before I only got 3 hours of sleep in before I got ready and headed out to the airport. I tried to sleep on the plane but just couldn’t make it happen. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night as there was quite a bit of drunken commotion outside at 2 in the morning from all the people leaving the bars. I just put my headphones in and fell back asleep to sounds of the ocean.





Day 2



Today was a day of firsts. I decided to go to Blackcomb Mtn and see what they had to offer. The bus drops you off at the base of Whistler, but there is a gondola that takes you over to Blackcomb and up the mountain a little ways. It was my first time riding in a gondola. It was pretty neat. It beats the chairlift any day.

The weather wasn’t all that great. Visibility was very low so that made getting around the mountain a challenge at certain times. I managed through it though and made the best of it. I stuck to mostly blue runs as I was told that none of the black trails were groomed and were mostly bump out. Another first was for the first time this season getting to ride on real snow in addition to actually seeing snow and riding while its snowing.

I wandered around the mountain picking out a trail here and a trail there to try out. Later in the day I decided to try out some trails at the top of the 7th Heaven lift. The wind was gusting pretty hard when I got to the top but with my new jacket and snow pants it didn’t bother me one bit aside from the very low visibility it causes. Now I was intending to try out a few trails on that side of the mountain but since it was very hard to see where to go I decided to bail and leave that area and head back to where I was before.

I was beat by 2:30 and headed back to the base for some apres at Long horn Saloon. I was going to order a margarita but it was $16…no thanks. I stuck with rum and coke which come to find out was a quarter of the price of the margarita. I’m sure it wasn’t worth $16.

I was able to snap one picture this day aside from all the videos I shot and it was at the end of the day. I’ll put a compilation of that later on down the road.

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Day 3



I wasn’t quite done exploring Blackcomb so I spend another day there. The weather was more clear than it was the day before so I spent the morning on the upper right side of the mountain on the 7th heaven lift. This area I did one run on the day before and decided not to go back because of low visibility. This wasn’t a problem today. Visibility was good and you could actually see where you were going. Low and behold there was lots of powder turns to be had. I rode the lift back up with a father and his sons. I recommended them going to Lakeside bowl which is where most of the freshies were. I hadn’t made it all the way into the bowl on prior runs but I led the way for them to make it over there. Bowls have always been a challenge for me and this one was no exception. As with anything though, the more you practice and work on them, the better you eventually get. I’m getting there, slowly but surely. I used to be scared to death of them because of how steep they are. I can tell my fear of them has weakened slightly. Its a mental thing really. You really have to convince yourself that you CAN do it. Little did I know though that my challenge wasn’t done yet for the day.

After spending a good bit of time riding trails from the 7th heaven lift, I went and had some lunch at one of the mountain top lodges and scoped out what trails I wanted to do for the rest of the day. I know I hadn’t went up the Glacier lift and there was a T-bar that took you to the top of one of the peaks. I hadn’t been on a t-bar lift before and so I made it about 30 or 40 feet before I lost my balance and couldn’t hang on to the lift. I fell and felt really stupid for doing so. I went back and gave it another go. This time it was a success. This was the route to take to get to Blackcomb Glacier. Oh boy! A glacier! Never rode one of those before. Not sure how to really explain it besides it being one big huge bowl. Here is a pic of the sign when you get off the t-bar and walk a little ways.

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From the point of that sign back to the Gondola was 6.7 miles. Another first in the works. If you look to the right of the sign there is a hill that goes up to the cat track over to the glacier. No lifts from here on out. Its boot pack the rest of the way. This is what you call earning your turns. Everyone had taken their skis/boards off and started hiking out to the glacier. This was some tough stuff. I had to stop a few times just to catch my breath. The weather started picking up too and visibility was going from decent to not so decent and back again. I took it easy for awhile as I waited a few minutes for visibility to get a little better.

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This is a view looking back at the cat track from the hike up. I was at a good drop point when I took the picture. If you look closely at the little dots in the middle, those are people starting the hike up to give you an idea of how big of an area this is. The clouds started to lighten and I get ready to start my descent.



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I take it easy going down and followed the trail marker posts to guide me on where to go. I make my way out of the glacier area and look back to take in the beautiful view.



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At this point I was only half way. It was still another 3.2 miles back. At least it was all smooth groomers the rest of the way as my legs were all beat up from the boot pack and the ride down. All I kept thinking to myself was “What was I thinking?”. But thats how you progress. Challenge yourself to bigger things. I made my way back to the village and hit up GLC for some apres ski drinks to celebrate my accomplishment.

[StealthBoarder]

Day 4



On Thursday I had high hopes of getting to go down a lot of trails on Whistler Mountain. But unfortunately my lead leg was bothering me. I was surprised really that it was giving me a hard time especially since I had been working out a good bit before I left. Never think you are in good enough shape to snowboard though. It’d find some way to come back and bite you in the butt. I started my morning on Whistler Mountain as planned but took it easy on my leg. I had wanted to go from one of the peaks down to the bottom but my leg was hurting too much to be riding long trails. Something tells me it had something to riding the glacier the day before. I didn’t soak my muscles in the hot tub yet either so that didn’t make things any better. Anyways, I stuck to the easier trails in the morning and then went back to the condo to chill out for a little while. I made reservations for going snowmobiling in the late afternoon and then headed back to the slopes. I had yet to try out the peak to peak gondola that runs between Blackcomb and Whistler Mountain so I thought I’d give that a shot. It was quite scenic and very cool.



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I rode it over to Blackcomb Mountain and then rode a couple of trails down to one of the lifts and came back up to ride it back. This time though I waited for about 5 minutes to get on one of the 2 glass bottom gondolas that they had. You could tell which ones they were as they are gray in color and the rest are red.

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I got back to Whistler Mountain and went and had a late lunch and then rode down the mountain as it was time to go on my snowmobile ride. I check in for my trip and they take us in a shuttle to a mountain nearby called Cougar Mountain. This area was designated specifically for snowmobiling in the winter and atv riding in the summer. I had never ridden a snowmobile before so this was a really great experience. In the group it was me, 2 couples, and our guide. I stuck to the back of the pack so I could have some fun as I picked up on it really quick. Here are some pics from the ride.



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After that it was back to the village and time for the hot tub this time. I was seriously considering whether I wanted to ride the next day or not. I really didn’t know how much more riding my leg would be able to handle. I went out for the evening to some DJs playing at a local place. They put on a really good show. I like how they had more than 2 DJs spinning at the same time. I also like how they had MacBook Pros integrated with their turntables. I couldn’t make out what program they were using but it looks pretty neat. It was a short walk away from the place I was staying at and at the time it had started snowing. On my way back later that night it had already snowed an inch or more. This had a huge impact on what my decision was going to be for Friday.



Day 5



My last day at Whistler had finally arrived. I was to be out of my condo by 10am so that they could clean for the next guests arriving that day. I was told this the day before so I made sure I had the majority of my stuff packed before I went to bed. My day started at 6am. I quickly finished getting the rest of my stuff packed up and put it down in the lobby for the staff to store while I’m…..yup that’s right, snowboarding one last day. I checked the snow report first thing and saw that the mountain did receive a decent amount of fresh snow so I wasn’t going pass on having a powder day. They do a full buffet breakfast on the mountain too which will allow at most 650 people to eat and then get first dibs on the slopes before the mountain opens to everyone else. It being my last day here I thought “Why not?”. I arrived at the base gondola area at 6:40am to already see a long line for the gondola. As with any mountain, when people get word of a powder day, they don’t hesitate getting there early. The forecast called for snow to pour down throughout the day with very good accumulations. Finally, I caught a break with this crappy snow season.

So I get my tickets and wait in line for maybe 30 mins or so. Due to the big crowd they started running the gondola a little bit before the usual 7:30am time. I rushed to get my breakfast and scarf it down and by time I had all my stuff together and was walking out of the lodge they dropped the ropes and started letting people ride down and make their own fresh tracks. I strap in as quickly as I can and start riding down. Its soooo quiet. Seems like all you can hear is the lift running and people yelling out in excitement. I joined them in yelling out as well. You know its a powder day when you hear people doing that.

I made a couple of laps and then by that time the rest of the lifts started opening so I headed over to the Harmony lift which I wasn’t able to go on the day before as it was closed for a little while. I got over there and I was the only one. No one had thought to make their way over there yet. I waited until I saw some other people come down and then got on the lift up. Now you might be thinking…why did he wait? Well there is a good reason for this. I wanted to have some people ride ahead of me so I could see where to go since I had never been on this side of the mountain. I did just so. It did help having people in front of me. When I got to the top, the visibility was very poor. The wind was blowing very hard and the snow was pelting my face. All was well though and I stayed riding trails off this lift for some time. I had to go to the bathroom too while this was all going down but I was just too stoked about all the fresh powder that I just waited. I overheard someone saying that the Symphony lift was open now so I made my way out to that area from the top of the Harmony lift. I had scoped out this area a few days ago and just never made it out there. Halfway down in this area were a few gladed areas. I had never had the chance to ride on this type of terrain so I made it to one of the easier areas and I just couldn’t believe how cool it was. Seems like any way you went it would all just dump you out at the lift. My second time down was crazy. When I got off the lift at the top it was super windy and snowy and that made it very difficult to make your way down the first quarter of the trail. Once you get through that though its not bad at all. I dropped into a gladed area this time and followed some trails through trees. I had a few tumbles and just laughed every time it happened. I made a few more laps off this lift. Seemed like each time making my way down from the top got more and more difficult.

I finally had enough with the conditions at the top and headed to a different part of the mountain to get some lunch. As I was heading out of the area I noticed that ski patrol was starting to close that whole area. Looks like I timed it just right. For lunch, I decided to try some of the local cuisine that I had seen lots of people get while I had been here. I had known prior to coming out here what it was but had yet to try it. Its called Poutine. I didn’t pronounce it right when I ordered it but it sounds like Pooteen. Its french fries topped with brown gravy and has chunks of curd cheese in it too. At first thought it sounded like the nastiest combination ever. Some things you just need to try it before you judge and so I did. I ordered poutine with some hot chocolate. It really hit the spot. It was still snowing like crazy and visibility wasn’t that great so I took the gondola back down to the village as it was time for me to head back to the condo, change clothes and pack up my gear.

All in all, this powder day was a perfect ending to this trip.



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[skipink]

Nice TR. I think your calendar is a little behind though.

[dj]

Good TR - thanks for bringing back memories from our trip there a few years ago. We stayed a week and felt like we only skied a tiny part of what was there. I'd like to go back, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon.



dj

[StealthBoarder]

@skipink 278837 wrote:Nice TR. I think your calendar is a little behind though.



Thanks. Yeah I thought I'd throw this up since I never got around to it.

[n_alabamaskier]

@StealthBoarder 278820 wrote:



If you look to the right of the sign there is a hill that goes up to the cat track over to the glacier. No lifts from here on out. Its boot pack the rest of the way. This is what you call earning your turns. Everyone had taken their skis/boards off and started hiking out to the glacier. This was some tough stuff.





I'll bite.



I would hardly call 25-50 steps earning your turns after you just rode lifts up 5280ft of vertical. So 25 more feet of vert is earning turns? Also Blackcomb Glacier is a blue at best and the runout is green--not hardly tough stuff.

[StealthBoarder]

That all depends on how deep the snow is. If you are a skier its no big deal once you are on the cat track but most of us were trudging out to the glacier in the snow. Parts of the Glacier are Black btw so it really depends on where you drop in.